Can I trust the mail?

Have just sold two more items, a Monsoon T-shirt (very pretty but a trifle too small) and a brown linen dress (looks like a monk's habit and it's been bought by a bloke!). I shall post them tomorrow and cross my fingers. I've asked both buyers to let me know when the parcels arrive. I must remember to ask for some claim forms at the Post Office. Bet it will take months to get refunds. It's just not fair, especially as I paid the extra for recorded delivery.

I've spent the last two days doing 'mini appraisals' ( a page on each) of seven different writers' first chapters. A couple of them were really good. It's so hard to get accepted for publication now. It was probably easier in Victorian times when publishers didn't have 'marketing slots' into which books had to fit. Then, a writer could write in his or her own style, with no-one barking 'show, don't tell' in their ear and asking whether the book was aimed at Level 6, Read Alones, or what the genre was. Why, oh why, is nobody allowed just to sit down and write what they want to write? Or rather, they can, but without doing their homework they stand precious little chance of getting published, especially if their book is 'cross genre', which is rather like being a literary transvestite. (Come to think of it, I know one or two of those!)

I may go to Cornwall for a few days tomorrow, if I don't feel too worn out.